Companies Reporting: Polymetal, CRH, Hays

It’s a pretty quiet week for FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and international companies reporting from 23 to 27 August. We’ve picked out a few highlights below – and you’ll find the full list of reporters further down the page.

• Dividends and debt are the focus at Polymetal International
• CRH will share guidance on the outlook for construction
• Hays will share it’s update on reduced costs in recruitment

Polymetal International LON:POLY, Half Year Results, Thursday 26 August 2021

“Investors following Polymetal almost certainly have eyes on the group’s 8.4% prospective dividend yield. It’s worth looking for any news on the group’s dividend pay-out as soon as results land. As a miner, Polymetal should benefit from the rising tide in commodity prices. Analysts expect to see a 24% increase in cash profits, and considering the accommodative environment, anything less would be a disappointment. But as commodity prices won’t necessarily rise forever, we’d like to see that Polymetal is taking care of its balance sheet. At last check the group had a net debt position of $1.4bn, or roughly 0.8 times cash profits. There’s still a lot of breathing room there in current market conditions, especially with compared to the group’s target of 1.5 times, but that could start to look more intimidating if commodity markets turn.”

CRH LON:CRH, Half Year Results, Thursday 26 August 2021

“All eyes will be on cash profits when CRH reports, as the Irish construction company guided for an improvement over 2020. This shouldn’t be much of an ask given the Covid-related disruption in both Europe and the US last year. The first half tends to be slower than the second at CRH, so guidance for the current trading period and beyond is also of keen interest. US lawmakers recently agreed on a $1 trillion infrastructure spending bill, and since the US is CRH’s single largest market we’d like to know whether that will add a tailwind to sales moving forward. Acquisitions are a big part of CRH’s growth strategy – the group spent a total of $405m making 17 acquisitions last year and has shelled out $200m so far in 2021. We’re hoping for an update on integration and some insight on acquisition spend estimates for this year.”

Hays LON:HAS, Full Year Results, Thursday 26 August 2021

“Performance at recruitment firms like Hays tends to follow the boom and bust of the wider economy. With the group reporting a 39% increase in net fees in the fourth quarter, it seems to be performing exactly as you might expect. The particularly strong growth in permanent employment placements bodes well for the strength of the recovery. With sales for the final quarter already announced the focus for next week’s full year results will be firmly on the cost line. Traditionally recruitment is a bit of a body shop. Winning new contracts requires hiring and training new recruiters, and consultants are paid in commission, which makes delivering improvements in margin difficult as a result. However, during the pandemic the group took steps to cut costs by 13%, it’ll be interesting to see if any of those can be made to stick.”

FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and selected other companies scheduled to report

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This article is brought to you in association with Hargreaves Lansdown. All opinions expressed in this article are from the analysts and do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Armchair Trader.